Florida State University Athletics
Florida State Finishes Regular Season at Pitt
2/26/2022 8:11:43 PM | Women's Basketball
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (Seminoles.com) – Florida State Women’s Basketball prepares for its final regular season game at Pitt on Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center. The game will air on the ACC Network.
FSU head coach Sue Semrau has another matchup with a member of her coaching tree in Lance White as the Seminoles (15-12, 9-8) and Panthers (11-17, 2-15) play in a key game. Semrau has built a strong coaching tree, with eight assistant coaches and players whom have become collegiate basketball head coaches. White spent 15 seasons at Florida State and helped the Seminoles to three NCAA Elite Eights (2010, 2015, 2017) and five NCAA Sweet 16s (2007, 2010, 2015, 2016, 2017).
Coach Sue’s coaching tree includes Cori Close at UCLA (2004-11 at FSU), White (2003-18) at Pitt, Ronald Hughey (2012-14) at Houston, Danielle Atkinson (2014-18) at Hofstra, current Associate Head Coach Brooke Wyckoff (2011-present) who was the FSU Interim Head Coach in 2020-21, Jenny Huth (2005-07) who was at Northern Colorado, Ganiyat Adeduntan (played from 2002-06) at Colgate and Rene Haynes (2011-12) at LIU.
Florida State enters Sunday’s critical regular-season finale in a three-way tie for seventh place in the ACC with Boston College (18-10, 9-8) and Miami (16-11, 9-8). Based on all scenarios entering Sunday’s slate of final games, the Seminoles can finish as high as sixth in the ACC and as low as ninth.
FSU is coming off a thrilling 65-63 overtime win over No. 22 Georgia Tech, securing its fourth Top 50 NET win of the season and its second among programs ranked in the Top 27. In tie-breaking scenarios that could include multiple teams, FSU’s 70-65 victory over third-place Notre Dame on Feb. 6 could loom large if head-to-head results are exhausted and the next tie-breaker includes finding a team’s best conference win.
A win over the Panthers on Sunday would mark seven consecutive seasons of securing double-digit wins in ACC play based on a full season’s conference schedule. Last year’s 9-7 conference season that included a fourth-place finish is not factored into the streak because conference games vs. NC State, Duke, Virginia and Boston College were canceled due to COVID-19.
In last year’s 67-53 win over Pitt at home, Kourtney Weber recorded a game-high 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting while going 7-of-8 from the line.
Mariana Valenzuela provided some key minutes for FSU in its 65-63 OT win vs. No. 22 Georgia Tech. FSU out-scored the Yellow Jackets 21-14 with her on the court for 11:53 and was out-scored 44-49 when she was on the bench.
A win over Pitt on Sunday would be FSU’s sixth vs. a Top 100 NET opponent this season. The Seminoles are 10-0 vs. opponents outside the Top 100 and own four wins vs. the Top 50. The Seminoles have gotten back down to 50th in the NET, playing some of their best basketball at their most critical time of the year. In the month of February, FSU has picked up four Top 50 wins over Notre Dame (18), Georgia Tech (27), Boston College (48) and Duke (49).
Pitt is led by talented guard Dayshanette Harris, who is averaging 9.9 points and has totaled a team-best 74 assists.
Following Sunday’s game, FSU is assured of playing on the second day of the upcoming ACC Women’s Basketball Tournament in Greensboro, which would be the second round on Thursday, March 3.
